RhombusHatesYou:
Sorry, too distracted watching Australian culture erode under the media onslaught of US culture to notice.

Best post of the thread right there. It is the same in Canada as well.

I'm surprised no one has called me out on the difference between US Culture and the media twisted cariacture of US culture that gets splattered all over the globe, which for convenience's sake we'll call US-Media Culture.

Hell, US Culture is probably threatened more by US-Media culture than any other culture is. At least people in other places have their own culture to fall back on, to protect, and to be able to point an accusing finger at the US but what about the poor buggers' who see their own culture chewed up, sanitised, stripped of context and repackaged for commercial consumption?

Yes, let us all take a minute to Pity the USA.

Higgs303:

RhombusHatesYou:
Sorry, too distracted watching Australian culture erode under the media onslaught of US culture to notice.

Best post of the thread right there. It is the same in Canada as well.

speak for yourself >_>

RhombusHatesYou:
I'm surprised no one has called me out on the difference between US Culture and the media twisted cariacture of US culture that gets splattered all over the globe, which for convenience's sake we'll call US-Media Culture.

Hell, US Culture is probably threatened more by US-Media culture than any other culture is. At least people in other places have their own culture to fall back on, to protect, and to be able to point an accusing finger at the US but what about the poor buggers' who see their own culture chewed up, sanitised, stripped of context and repackaged for commercial consumption?

Yes, let us all take a minute to Pity the USA.

i'm confused. i thought US culture basically was "commercial consumption" ? (cheap shot i know sry) what exactly is there apart from 236 years of rampant capitalism practised by immigrants to that land ? sure there's art and music and literature but its always been about art and music and literature that sells. even Mark Twain was in the business of selling newspapers (and himself via "speaking engagements"). hell, even the lasting philosophies the US has produced are underlying about getting rich from the laissez-faire economics first espoused during The Enlightenment to the modern legitimization of "randism"...

take NYC for example, you know the first "cultural" thing that comes to my head when i think of NYC ?

Pizza...

(the skyscrapers go without mentioning but even those are a direct response to land value...)

Fluffythepoo:

Higgs303:

RhombusHatesYou:
Sorry, too distracted watching Australian culture erode under the media onslaught of US culture to notice.

Best post of the thread right there. It is the same in Canada as well.

speak for yourself >_>

mhmm, yea because Canadian media isn't completely dominated by US TV shows, movies, music, fashion trends, sporting events, etc. Oh, and Canadian actors, musicians, artists, writers, etc never move to the US to be assimilated into their entertainment industry, that would be seen as traitorous. Clearly, 90% of our own arts and media is not underfunded garbage filled with 2nd rate talent. Oh and Canadian politcs and history? Yea, there is no way that much of the population somehow shows more knowledge/interest in the american equivalents. Business you say? Yea, it is obvious that Canadian cities are filled with the finest homegrown enterprises, only a handful of US bussinesses to be seen. Massive US corporations and investors do not dominate our economy at all. Consumer behaviour? Yea, completely different than the Yanks, not an exact mirror at all. Food? Poutine? Great! I'll take a cheeseburger and an apple pie with that...

Canadian culture is little more than some myth about a touque wearing dude with a strange accent that I have never actually heard in person who also says "Eh" frequently (once again rarely hear "eh" in real conversation). Oh, we also hold onto some sort of bizarre paradox where we feel both superior and inferior to the US. There are regional cultures (eg. a unique identity in the western provinces, the northern territories, the french, the atlantic provinces) without a doubt, but as an overall nation we just have a permutation of american cultural trends.

"The tragedy of Canada is that they had the perfect opportunity to enjoy French cuisine, British culture and American technology, but instead ended up with British cuisine, American culture and French technology."

Sleekit:
take NYC for example, you know the first "cultural" thing that comes to my head when i think of NYC ?

Pizza...

I think of that nice french statue they put on the postcards.

If it makes you canadians feel any better:

Tim Hortons is spreading like a cancer over here. I cant trip in Buffalo without hitting 3 tim hortons on the way down.

WNY also have accents very similiar to canadians that even other New Yorkers think we are canadians.

Canadian beer is very popular in NY. Labatt blue seems to be the main beer staple here...well amongst the younger people. Older people seem to gravitate towards Miller or Coors.

RhombusHatesYou:

Sleekit:
take NYC for example, you know the first "cultural" thing that comes to my head when i think of NYC ?

Pizza...

I think of that nice french statue they put on the postcards.

the one with the sonnet about immigration ?...

it's a nice statue (and a nice sonnet).

how much it reflects modern America ? that's another topic i guess...

Vault101:

RhombusHatesYou:
Sorry, too distracted watching Australian culture erode under the media onslaught of US culture to notice.

like what? calling chips french fries?

when they start calling tomato scauce Ketchup then we can take to the streets with Molotovs and pitchforks

If they start calling them "freedom fries" then you know your country's culture is screwed.

keiji_Maeda:

chinangel:
this is just something i've noticed slowly emerging in my 28 years of life. Japanese culture seems to be gaining a lot of strength and momentum in our culture. I was in a shop in my tiny town and noticed that it was selling books of 'Cinderella' but it was done entirely with manga-style artwork, very shojou.

Then there are our cartoons, i've noticed a growing number of them are aping the anime style, with an american twist, as Anime is far more popular (as far as I am aware) than conventional american animation.

But it's not just media, i've seen some girls a bit younger than me dressing in outfits i'd expect to see in a japanese fashion magazine, similar hairstyles, make up, words and even gestures.

I saw a picture of some of my old friends from my beauty school posing together and doing the 'V' with their fingers and big grins on their faces, another trend i've seen growing.

Whilst i'm not really offended or startled by this, I'm curious if anyone else has seen this cropping up anywhere?

I'm getting the vibe that you're a cut younger than me (later twenties, as has been noted below i think it's an inevtiable part of cultural osmosis that comes rather naturally when several priviliged nations has an open way to inter-communicate globally and gather data immediately. I think that what some of us might have failed to notice (not trying to flakk anyone here) is that a few years ago it was more prevalent as it was completely new, people dressing up in gothic lolita ware in northern europe was unheard of, japanese classes, K-pop and chinese lessons was pretty new as well. And now that it's spreading we're all getting jaded and attributing it to a global development of intermingling cultures, like the (now) eyerollingly embarrasing embrace of american culture with rock in the fifties and video culture in the eighties.

But yes, i think it is more widespread now. But among the examples i've seen above they all seem pretty straightforward, but i'd be interested to know what part of the world you're from and how large a "small" community is in your eyes.

My community is not that big at all, it's in Ontario Canada, and whilst we have seen some interesting examples of cultural osmis or whatnot (ie: the catholic school that i live near has recently changed it's uniforms to seifuku), though I do note that you used quotations around small for some reason...why?

Higgs303:

"The tragedy of Canada is that they had the perfect opportunity to enjoy French cuisine, British culture and American technology, but instead ended up with British cuisine, American culture and French technology."

Ha ha ha, wow. Thats a great quote. Makes me feel a bit sad for you Canadians, if thats at all true, you really got shafted.

Happens everywhere. "They" affect "us" we affect "them". Case in point:

Interestingly enough here in the UK the emergency services had to also redirect from 911 as people are so used to hearing it from movies and tv shows that in an emergency they would dial 911 instead of 999.